Quick Poll: Do You Think Tom King is a Good Writer?

[Timothy Hunter]

Tom King has probably the most outspoken critics in comics. Let's see if they are the majority or a vocal minority.

[CaptCleghorn]

Tom King has written some truly incredible stories. He's also written at least one real clunker.

[Pohzee]

You woulda put this up a year ago I woulda said he was on track to be the best of all time. But I haven't been floored by a lot of his recent stuff, so I'll just go with great writer. He's written most of the best stories to come out of DC in the past decade.

I mean, he's easily one of DC's best writers, but that's not saying much

[Restingvoice]

The very first Nightwing issue where he has Batman beat up Nightwing so he won't get captured again after a whole arc of Batman worried and distracted about Nightwing in Forever Evil I figured he's the type of writer who will ignore other book's canon characterization to fit the story he wants to tell.

The very first Batman issue where he has Bruce doing his Batman work out almost naked on Wayne Enterprise's helipad I figured he's still a writer who does meta or ridiculous joke that ignore canon logic.

So I know going in that there will be quirks and for the most part, I accept it, because he's already giving signs that he is this type of storyteller.

However, all of this was before the story went Breaking Bat. Before he's talking about superhero trauma. When the story is about the characters undergoing stress, tragedy, and trauma, I expect it to be less quirky, and for the most part it was, but still...

There shouldn't be a meta-joke about how Robins kept dying done by the Robins when Tim just recently died and Bruce was worried that Bane is going to kill them. The Sanctuary interview tape should be used to discuss the Robins' own trauma instead of making a meta-joke about people confusing different Robins.

So most of my problem with him came in the decision making, not the story itself.
Writing the plot but not choosing the characters for Heroes in Crisis.
Inappropriate joke timing.
Picking and choosing character history or creating his own which other writers do this too but they shouldn't if it's in continuity
25 issues of BatCat (I think) and 25 issues of Breaking Bat are way too long

I'd say I can enjoy his works fully when I'm not familiar with the character history, and mostly I can tell what he's trying to say. Some may need a reread and I don't personally like it, but I get what he was going for... I think. His short stories are good but man the payoff is so slow when he's writing a long series.

So I guess he's good...? with a lot of buts in a heavy continuity story? Like I absolutely hate Heroes in Crisis in context with what's happening in Rebirth, but I can see me liking... no... okay with it if it's out of continuity.

Honestly "King is a writer who can win an Eisner while annoying the sh*t out of the fandom" sounds about right.

I'm sorry this is long but context matters. I can't just say he's good, period or bad, period.

[kingaliencracker]

Yes, he's good...

...but Heroes in Crisis definitely tarnished his momentum considerably.

[KangMiRae]

I haven’t read all of his works, especially his Batman. (I’ll start with the next writer), but he’s not a bad writer by a large margin. He’a been building his reputation but slipped up is the best way I’d describe it. I don’t think it’s fair to tarnish his name because of one lemon.

[CPSparkles]

The very first Nightwing issue where he has Batman beat up Nightwing so he won't get captured again after a whole arc of Batman worried and distracted about Nightwing in Forever Evil I figured he's the type of writer who will ignore other book's canon characterization to fit the story he wants to tell.

The very first Batman issue where he has Bruce doing his Batman work out almost naked on Wayne Enterprise's helipad I figured he's still a writer who does meta or ridiculous joke that ignore canon logic.

So I know going in that there will be quirks and for the most part, I accept it, because he's already giving signs that he is this type of storyteller.

However, all of this was before the story went Breaking Bat. Before he's talking about superhero trauma. When the story is about the characters undergoing stress, tragedy, and trauma, I expect it to be less quirky, and for the most part it was, but still...

There shouldn't be a meta-joke about how Robins kept dying done by the Robins when Tim just recently died and Bruce was worried that Bane is going to kill them. The Sanctuary interview tape should be used to discuss the Robins' own trauma instead of making a meta-joke about people confusing different Robins.

So most of my problem with him came in the decision making, not the story itself.
Writing the plot but not choosing the characters for Heroes in Crisis.
Inappropriate joke timing.
Picking and choosing character history or creating his own which other writers do this too but they shouldn't if it's in continuity
25 issues of BatCat (I think) and 25 issues of Breaking Bat are way too long

I'd say I can enjoy his works fully when I'm not familiar with the character history, and mostly I can tell what he's trying to say. Some may need a reread and I don't personally like it, but I get what he was going for... I think. His short stories are good but man the payoff is so slow when he's writing a long series.

So I guess he's good...? with a lot of buts in a heavy continuity story? Like I absolutely hate Heroes in Crisis in context with what's happening in Rebirth, but I can see me liking... no... okay with it if it's out of continuity.

Honestly "King is a writer who can win an Eisner while annoying the sh*t out of the fandom" sounds about right.

I'm sorry this is long but context matters. I can't just say he's good, period or bad, period.

Agree with all this.

Tom is decent but very hit and miss. He's also got the one theme that he explores over and over.

You realise after reading 2/3 of his works that Tom King thinks all traumatised people act the same way which hurts rather than helps.

[BatmanJones]

Liked Heroes in Crisis very much (hoped for something more from the final issue but I took #8 more personally than any comic book in memory), loved Vision, loved Mister Miracle, and his Batman is my favorite Batman in my 50 years of being obsessed with Batman.

I'm not here to persuade anyone to my point of view and nobody would be able to persuade me to a different one so none of this is an argument, only an observation.

I do think a lot of people here take it for granted that King is almost universally loathed and, if that were so, he wouldn't keep winning awards that are voted on by people in the industry. Awards don't make someone great or even good and many bad artists have received awards they don't deserve. So awards don't prove anything except that some people, rather a lot, think pretty highly of his writing. To read these forums one would think everyone hates his writing and that simply isn't true. Even the poll here has a few more votes for him as good/great than bad/awful.

It takes all sorts to make a world.